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In pre-emptive strike mode, Mirabella dumped herself from the frontbench.

A past mistress of the caustic comment, her political career became more incendiary as years passed. Her hard-faced comments about Muslim women wearing head coverings, asylum seekers and ''stolen generations'' fed seamlessly into the disdain with which she seemed to regard GetUp! director Simon Sheikh when he keeled over next to her on ABC TV's Q&A in July last year.

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In a rare win, Belinda Neal had to apologise in 2008 after Mirabella complained the former Labor MP for Robertson had yelled across the chamber, ''your baby will be turned into a demon by evil thoughts''.

Mirabella was born Sophie Panopoulos in 1968, the daughter of Greek migrants who sent her to St Catherine's, Toorak, once a finishing school for those who could not afford Europe: alumni include Elisabeth Murdoch, members of the Myer family, the abortion campaigner Jo Wainer and the philanthropist Jill Reichstein.

Brilliant academically, Mirabella studied law at Melbourne University, got into student politics, was a noisy Liberal Club president and caught the eye of Colin Howard, a dean of law and noted constitutional law expert. British-born Howard combined sneering superiority with social awkwardness and possessed a cruel appreciation for weak argument and weaker people. Mirabella learnt at his knee and then some.

In 1995, the newly minted 27-year-old barrister moved in with her 66-year-old mentor. They lived in Carlton, an inner suburb of Melbourne, for about five years. Howard named Mirabella as sole executor and beneficiary, notwithstanding he had two adult children. She left for the central Victorian town of Wangaratta, established a practice, impressed the local residents and laid the basis for a parliamentary career. Elected the Liberal MP for Indi in 2001, she married former army reserve officer Greg Mirabella in 2006. Howard moved next door.

Howard battled Alzheimer's disease and died at 83 in 2011. Mirabella had kept her lover a secret from her family but her unusual family arrangements burst messily into public during an acrimonious dispute with Howard's children over their father's assets.

All this background static informed her struggle to withstand McGowan's strong campaign and although Mirabella was a frontbencher her increasing notoriety trashed the Liberal vote in Indi. In 2004 she had 62.6 per cent of the vote. By 2010 it was 52.6 per cent. It now stands at 49.3 per cent.